Vision

Our vision was to reclaim an unused portion of our school grounds to grow a mini forest. We wanted a place where students and the community could walk through and enjoy where they could reconnect with nature. We wanted to leave a legacy at Maples Collegiate so we could walk by 20 years later and say that we helped build that.

Action

After watching the LSF workshop on how many trees would offset our carbon footprint, we were inspired to plant trees. The grant money was spent purchasing soil, trees, and shrubs to plant on an unused, and public space on our school grounds. We got many trees and wood mulch donated. We planned some elements as a group, and it culminated in a day of planting. There were three intentions to this project. First, we wanted to try and offset our school’s carbon footprint. Secondly, we wanted to beautify an unused area of the school and make it usable by the public. Thirdly, we wanted to use it as a windbreak for the nearby garden. Once the trees grow a bit more, we are planning to create a path to walk through and some benches to relax. The members of our community are often seen meeting together in public spaces, so this will be a place that will be enjoyed for years to come.

Reflection & Celebration

The results seem to have been as planned and was very positive. We had a great day of planting where we were allowed to bring in 10 students (during a lockdown) of our sustainability group (Maples Eco Crew). The students did a great job planting the 45 trees and 9 shrubs that we were able to get. Due to the lockdown, we decided to not do an in-person celebration, however we did post everything on social media.

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